Pug Pledges are saving me a ton of gold

rotaugen454 · December 2016

I kept hearing so many horror stories about Group Finder that I didn't use it and kept hoping Golden Vendor had monster set pieces I wanted. Then I started doing Pug vet pledges, and it's been great. The wait is longer if I am not doing the current daily pledge, but I just grind until I get in. Everyone has done hard mode at the end, and we've always finished. I'm sure the fact that I have 715 CP and all gold gear helps, but I've been picking up pieces like crazy now. I wish that I had ignored the horror stories and started this earlier. The groups usually have a couple sub 50s too, and we might have a couple deaths, but no wipes thus far. I think things just get exaggerated to Oblivion (tm) on the forums.Now I just use Goldie to pick up gold jewelry.

Blkadr · December 2016

Um, about the group finder... if my dps actually gets into a dungeon (and I don't quit from frustration first) half the time I get paired with some super Leroy Jenkins over-the-top egomaniac tank who either doesn't talk at all or hurls insults at the rest of us. So not such great experiences here. For some reason its always the tank. (Please don't hate me nice tanks, I know you're out there!)

Isellskooma · December 2016

I know right! I have 750cp and I used the group finder once, I ended up in a group with 3 people under 80cp and I had a great time. It was Crypt of Hearts, a fairly easy dungeon and didn't wipe a single time. I guess people are just unlucky and find people who have no idea what they were doing, these 60cp guys are doing better then what I see others do.

Takes-No-Prisoner · December 2016

I played pug Group Finder last night. I was in Fungal Grotto II with DPS being around lv20-30 and one guy was CP97. Had no problems supporting them. We beat all the bosses without anyone dying.

Que'ed up for Blessed Crucible normal and vet with people ranging from CP330 to CP561. No issues supporting them there either. I really need the Undaunted skill line levels and skill points. Plus hopefully getting good Troll King pieces.

SJD_Phoenix · December 2016

Trust me when I say you're in the minority.

Instead of questioning other people's integrity be thankful that GF put you with other good players. It certainly isn't the case on xbox eu.

raj72616a · December 2016

somehow when i rarely meet toxic pug players, they are often dps. complain abt not getting healed, not getting the exact buffs they want, and complain abt tank not holding bosses that are immune to taunt.

but yea, at least on NA PC, most vet pugs are decent.

mrs_gibbs · December 2016

I rarely have problems with the group finder. Occasionally you will get some jerks, but it's not like you are stuck with them forever. I actually find it kind of amusing. I don't mind helping lowbies out at all, unless they are rude and not following directions. Most are eager to learn though.

We had one guy that was low cp, and would not listen at all in WGT. He would not take his turn with the pinion. He was the healer so he kept saying he shouldn't have to take it. Only it was more like, "Listen B** I'm the healer so I'm not doing any dps." The other three of us have ran WGT all the time no problems. Well the other DPS said he would only try twice more and then he had to go. The healer started whining that every single group he got into kept quitting on him. So we explained to him it was because he wouldn't listen, and was cussing us out when we gave advice. Even though he had never beat it before. Then he started insisting that we were a bunch of noobs and babies and to give him the crown. So we gave him the crown and then quit. haha. Life is too short to deal with people like that. Got in a group quickly again and beat it on a speed run. No problems.

Snit · December 2016

It depends somewhat on what role you play. When I am on my DPS (a stamsorc), I can carry a fairly bad group through most content (not the DLC dungeons, though). My build is flexible enough that I can adapt to cover what's missing. The downside, of course, is very long queues.

Queues are faster for my healer, but I feel a bit helpless sometimes. You can't carry a group with two bad DPS.

SolarCat02 · December 2016

Most groups I have gotten in PUGs have been at least halfway decent. Yesterday my husband and I ran two of the pledges, veteran hardmode.

The first group was for City of Ash I and was okay, tank loved to talk the whole time and was not even half of what he bragged (although not bad for a PUG) so my healer ended up off tanking all the mobs while the tank moved the boss around out of people's ultimates and the Sorcerer dps streaked around to safe looking places to crystal frag from range... But we finished on Hardmode, nobody died, we traded gearsets for those hunting and then politely declined the request to stay grouped for Imperial City Prison.

Second group for Spindleclutch I was awesome. Tank was solid, and he and I worked out a good Warhorn rotation. The assigned dps was a great counterpoint to my husband's stamblade, and the only issue we had was with the final boss' random spit attacks. Wiped the first time, spent some time to reshuffle a few skills (I swapped in Barrier instead of Warhorn) and nice and clean for the second take. They also invited us for Imperial City Prison, and we would have run it with them happily if it wasn't time for me to join a Trial and my husband to prep for his early morning the next day. We did some helm swapping for the other dps' PvP collection, but nobody wanted the dropped sets.

The horror stories stick out, but a good player can overcome most groups for most veteran dungeons. The DLC ones on the other hand... Not sure if I will ever feel comfortable PUGing those?

Bramir · December 2016

I've had great experiences with the group finder mostly...

One guy tried to explain to me (politely) that my heals needed to be stronger, overlooking the fact that the dps were getting one-shot and he (the tank) wasn't really a tank. But mostly its been smooth running, and even the failures haven't resulted in any qq.

Riga_Mortis · December 2016

Ive had some pretty amazing pug groups on EU PS4.

Everyones experience will be different tho.

Delimber · December 2016

Nice tank here, and dps and when I want to change myself I try to run a healer toon too.

We tend only to remember the horror stories from pledges/dungeon runs.

But lately I've had no issues with the pug runs...they have been working out better than some of the guild runs lol

And I've been helping an up and coming tank in the guild with my mDK in normal dungeons, that thing cleans house lol

AzuraKin · December 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

I kept hearing so many horror stories about Group Finder that I didn't use it and kept hoping Golden Vendor had monster set pieces I wanted. Then I started doing Pug vet pledges, and it's been great. The wait is longer if I am not doing the current daily pledge, but I just grind until I get in. Everyone has done hard mode at the end, and we've always finished. I'm sure the fact that I have 715 CP and all gold gear helps, but I've been picking up pieces like crazy now. I wish that I had ignored the horror stories and started this earlier. The groups usually have a couple sub 50s too, and we might have a couple deaths, but no wipes thus far. I think things just get exaggerated to Oblivion (tm) on the forums.Now I just use Goldie to pick up gold jewelry.

sub 50s? then you not doing vet and thus not even possibly hm cause it not vet.

rotaugen454 · December 2016

Que times are definitely shorter if I run my Templar healer or my Dragonknight tank, but my Sorc and Nightblade DPS don't have to wait more than an hour, and the grinding I get done in that I've more than covers using inspiration and picking up set gear for the day. If it is the current daily pledge, even the DPS has been taking about 10 minutes. Most people have been friendly, and post what they picked up in case someone else could use it. Some people make it sound like they wipe over and over with 3 out of every 4 groups.

eaton68_ESO · December 2016

Hit and miss. My best and worst runs have been pugs with group finder.

code65536 · December 2016

Non-PUG pledges will save you even more gold. 1558 unused keys in my bags...

(499 used)

Jeremy · December 2016

rotaugen454 wrote: »

I kept hearing so many horror stories about Group Finder that I didn't use it and kept hoping Golden Vendor had monster set pieces I wanted. Then I started doing Pug vet pledges, and it's been great. The wait is longer if I am not doing the current daily pledge, but I just grind until I get in. Everyone has done hard mode at the end, and we've always finished. I'm sure the fact that I have 715 CP and all gold gear helps, but I've been picking up pieces like crazy now. I wish that I had ignored the horror stories and started this earlier. The groups usually have a couple sub 50s too, and we might have a couple deaths, but no wipes thus far. I think things just get exaggerated to Oblivion (tm) on the forums.Now I just use Goldie to pick up gold jewelry.

Yeah it's not as bad as people make out - at least on the PC.

For every bad group I get several good ones. It's definitely worth using - and the queue times for healers at least are usually almost instant.

rotaugen454 · December 2016

AzuraKin wrote: »

rotaugen454 wrote: »

I kept hearing so many horror stories about Group Finder that I didn't use it and kept hoping Golden Vendor had monster set pieces I wanted. Then I started doing Pug vet pledges, and it's been great. The wait is longer if I am not doing the current daily pledge, but I just grind until I get in. Everyone has done hard mode at the end, and we've always finished. I'm sure the fact that I have 715 CP and all gold gear helps, but I've been picking up pieces like crazy now. I wish that I had ignored the horror stories and started this earlier. The groups usually have a couple sub 50s too, and we might have a couple deaths, but no wipes thus far. I think things just get exaggerated to Oblivion (tm) on the forums.Now I just use Goldie to pick up gold jewelry.

sub 50s? then you not doing vet and thus not even possibly hm cause it not vet.

Are you sure non-Vets can't que for vet? I did City of Ash I last night and got 2 pledge keys and the monster helm. The only other thing I can think of is that they were sub 50 CP, but I'll test that this weekend with a non-vet friend.

raj72616a · December 2016

you only need to be cp10 to queue for vet dungeon

rotaugen454 · December 2016

raj72616a wrote: »

you only need to be cp10 to queue for vet dungeon

Must have seen a 47 and 32 CP pair.

Peekachu99 · December 2016

I pug 99% of the time (except for trials, since you can't anymore--yes you could back in the day) and I have issues about 10-20% of the time. That seems a fair margin of frustration to success. It helps if you're playing a support role, either tank or healer, and are capable of sustaining either yourself or the group (former and latter roles, respectively) indefinitely.

I have no problem being the crutch if need be. And it beats yelling in cities and joining random groups, which are--you know--just as random as you get in Activity Finder anyway.

silhouette187 · December 2016

Um, about the group finder... if my dps actually gets into a dungeon (and I don't quit from frustration first) half the time I get paired with some super Leroy Jenkins over-the-top egomaniac tank who either doesn't talk at all or hurls insults at the rest of us. So not such great experiences here. For some reason its always the tank. (Please don't hate me nice tanks, I know you're out there!)

I'm a tank and often find zealous DPS who won't wait 3 seconds for me to grab aggro on the boss or trash. Then they complain that I, or the healer aren't good enough. I usually just let that DPS die a few times so they learn their lesson. I change gear before bosses, give me 5 seconds and the fight will go 5x faster. DPS always blames the tank and heals, but don't worry because the tank and heals always blame the dps

vyndral13preub18_ESO · December 2016

I find that most of the time in the groups i am in, we have problems when people want to have problems.

You might say bull crap! No one wants to have problems! And to that I disagree. While a large portion of my pugging i have no problem at all, the times i do it is usually because someone wants to mouth off.

Sure maybe the dps was bad. Or the healer wasnt using repent. Or the tank was not grabbing agro on as much as he could. But we were going to make it through the dungeon. And more then likely we were good enough for 2 keys. But no jerko #1 wanted to tell the healer he sucked. Or loudmouth #3 wanted to tell dps how sucky he was. And then things fall apart.

runagate · December 2016

Almost all good tanks I've met in guilds or pugs. Almost all toxic tanks I've met were high CP in pugs.

Almost all bad healers I've met were in guilds. I suspect that because people got used to them as their go-to healer they put up with the fact that there were (1) terrible and (2, and far worse) insanely annoying people.

Yesterday I was with 2 low level guildies and we used the LFG tool for tanks. All were under level 45. All were quite good and fun to play with.

Oddly enough, the strangest thing I've seen recently is 3 different low level healers who were wearing Hircine's Veneer. I can honestly say I've never seen a healer wear that before this week.

kylewwefan · December 2016

Wait til ya get some S/B DD thinks they're tough because they beat a 561 in a duel, now they can DPS Vet dungeons with S/B dueling proc gear.

I just did a bunch of randoms to level up vampire, really don't need anything ATM. You still see gawd awful stuff in Vet dungeons. I usually select Vet and Norm to get better chances of getting in something quick. Thankful for the norm that I could likely solo and drag everyone along for the ride.

vyndral13preub18_ESO · December 2016

kylewwefan wrote: »

Wait til ya get some S/B DD thinks they're tough because they beat a 561 in a duel, now they can DPS Vet dungeons with S/B dueling proc gear.

I just did a bunch of randoms to level up vampire, really don't need anything ATM. You still see gawd awful stuff in Vet dungeons. I usually select Vet and Norm to get better chances of getting in something quick. Thankful for the norm that I could likely solo and drag everyone along for the ride.

You know it is strange, i usually have much better luck in vet dungeons then i do in normals. Not that you cant finish a normal but the players are much worse. Which makes sense since a lot of them are still leveling. But also More people pretending to be something they aren't.

Edits i guess maybe i cheat the odds a little now that i think about it. Since i almost always run with my gf. While neither of us are alstars we both can pull around 20k dps unless i am healing or tanking. So i guess i just have to get lucky with 2 people and not 3 like a lot of people.

ArchMikem · December 2016

I tried using the finder for the pledges last night. Nearly ten minute wait and the very SECOND I managed to be placed into a group, the leader disbanded the group, and I got stuck with the 15 minute penalty.

So I went to bed.

SolarCat02 · December 2016

runagate wrote: »

Almost all good tanks I've met in guilds or pugs. Almost all toxic tanks I've met were high CP Oddly enough, the strangest thing I've seen recently is 3 different low level healers who were wearing Hircine's Veneer. I can honestly say I've never seen a healer wear that before this week.

One of the healers in our guild was very proudly displaying a max level character wearing Hircine's. I don't know if it's his healer, as he hasn't been on for a few weeks (got very sick, and now Christmas preparations) and to be honest I have been nervous to ask.

I am hoping it's either an alt character, or simply a "farming outfit" because his younger nieces lecture him if he doesn't look "pretty" while farming crafting ingredients and they wanted the green balls. He said he will be online for our Trial tomorrow so I guess we will find out then.

Jeremy · December 2016

SolarCat02 wrote: »

runagate wrote: »

Almost all good tanks I've met in guilds or pugs. Almost all toxic tanks I've met were high CP Oddly enough, the strangest thing I've seen recently is 3 different low level healers who were wearing Hircine's Veneer. I can honestly say I've never seen a healer wear that before this week.

One of the healers in our guild was very proudly displaying a max level character wearing Hircine's. I don't know if it's his healer, as he hasn't been on for a few weeks (got very sick, and now Christmas preparations) and to be honest I have been nervous to ask.

I am hoping it's either an alt character, or simply a "farming outfit" because his younger nieces lecture him if he doesn't look "pretty" while farming crafting ingredients and they wanted the green balls. He said he will be online for our Trial tomorrow so I guess we will find out then.

He is probably wearing it as a way to boost the Stamina Recovery of the group to add more support.

I personally wouldn't wear it - but a lot of people like to turn Templar Healers into Stamina Support characters.

itsfatbass · December 2016

ArchMikem wrote: »

I tried using the finder for the pledges last night. Nearly ten minute wait and the very SECOND I managed to be placed into a group, the leader disbanded the group, and I got stuck with the 15 minute penalty.

So I went to bed.

That was one of the Dungeon finder bugs unfortunately.

If you're a higher CP player, joining queue for a dungeon will be less painful, esp if you're a DPS. You can carry players in on your coattails and it indeed will make the dungeon seem easy, but I can assure you that NON-PUG groups are much more rewarding.

s7732425ub17_ESO · December 2016

Someone with 700 CP can carry a scrub group through most Vet dungeons.